1400 - HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO fish and public spirited as he was successful in the management of his various enterprises. On October 17, 1852, Elisha Shepherd married Miss Huldah Elizabeth Ion, who was born near Northville in Oakland County, Michigan, January 2, 1835. Her father, Launcelot Henry Ion, was a graduate of Oxford University in England, and he and his wife were among the first residents of Oneida Township in Eaton County, and it was at their home in that locality that Huldah Ion and Mr. Shepherd were married. Her father moved among the pioneers as a prominent figure, due both to his superior education and to his high character. He held various county offices and left his imprint on many local institutions. In an oration delivered at Charlotte July 4, 1846, the original copy of which is now in Mr. H. I. Shepherd's possession, Launcelot Ion, who was the son of an English Episcopal clergyman, set forth his reasons for leaving England and coming to America. He came to the New World largely inspired by our spirit of freedom and liberty, and in his speech he lauds George Washington and refers to the curse of slavery. From this ancestor, and in turn from his mother, Howard I. Shepherd inherits a most unusual collection of heirlooms and valuable books and documents, some of them well over two hundred years old. Soon after their marriage Elisha Shepherd and wife started housekeeping in Charlotte, and later they purchased the old Eagle Hotel, Mr. Shepherd being associated with his father-in-law, Mr. Ion, and together they operated it for a number of years. This hotel stood on the present site of the Phoenix House in Charlotte. The building was constructed of hewn timbers, and Mr. Shepherd added a 60 by 40 foot addition to the old hotel, and the logs for this addition were cut and drawn by him from a tract of timber where the buildings of the Charlotte Manufacturing Company and the Grand Trunk Passenger Depot now stand. At one time he was a director of the Peninsular Railroad, now a part of the Grand Trunk System. After leaving the hotel business Elisha Shepherd with his brother James engaged in general merchandising under the name E. & J. Shepherd. This mercantile house branched out into the buying and selling of agricultural produce of all kinds, established a private bank, and became one of the largest mercantile houses in that section of Michigan. The firm also built a number of business blocks in Charlotte. Elisha Shepherd was one of those who participated in the organization of the republican party in Michigan, having been a delegate to the famous convention "Under the Oaks" at Jackson in 1854. He was three times mayor of the City of Charlotte and held a number of other local offices. The Eaton County Pioneer Society honored him in his later years by electing him life president. His was a life of signal honor and usefulness, and he passed away in the fullness of years at the age of eighty-two. After he sold the hotel in Charlotte he and his wife moved to a cottage which stood on the site of the present Shepherd home in Charlotte. The present residence was built in 1865, and the old home has seen many happy gatherings and social functions in the years gone by. In that home in February, 1907, seven years preceding her husband, Mrs. Elisha Shepherd passed away after having spent more than half a century in Charlotte. In her earlier years she was a leader in both the social and religious life of the community. These honored pioneers were the parents of six children, all of whom are still living : Mrs. Celia Ion Dodge ; Launcelot Henry Shepherd ; Mrs. Vina S. Mikesell ; Fred S. Shepherd, all residing in Charlotte ; Elisha Shepherd, Jr., of Monroe, Michigan ; and Howard Ion Shepherd. Howard Ion Shepherd was born at Charlotte, Michigan, July 28, 1874. He graduated from the Charlotte public schools in 1893, was a student of Olivet College in Michigan, and in 1898 took the degree bachelor of laws from the University of Michigan. Admitted to the bar before the Supreme Court of Michigan in 1898, he was in the active practice of law from that date until 1904 at Detroit. Being inclined to a business career, he left the practice of law and conducted the Detroit office of N. W. Halsey & Company of New York, handling railroad and municipal bonds until December, 1905. Mr. Shepherd came to Toledo in December, 1905, as secretary and assistant treasurer and director of The Toledo Shipbuilding Company. He was with that company until July, 1913, when he became vice president and director of The Ohio Savings Bank & Trust Company. He was a director of The First National Bank of Toledo from 1909 to 1913, is a director of the Fifty Associates Company, and has been active in all matters of public interest, particularly those favoring the industrial improvement of Toledo. He was one of the prime movers in the consolidation of The To- HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO - 1401 ledo Chamber of Commerce and The Toledo Business Men's Club, making the present Toledo Commerce Club. Other interests that from time to time have benefited by his association are the Young Men 's Christian Association, the Young Women's Christian Association, and the Toledo Museum of Art. He has the reputation of being one of the ablest after dinner speakers in Northwest Ohio. He is a republican, a member of the Toledo Club, the Inverness Golf Club, the Toledo Commerce Club, and Toledo Yacht Club ; is a member of the Session of the Collingwood Avenue Presbyterian Church ; is also president of the Alumni Association of the Michigan Chapter Delta Chi fraternity, and vice president of The Trust Company Association of Ohio. On February 27, 1899, he married Miss Floy A. Bush, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Ransom Bush, who are now living at Eaton Rapids, Michigan, and whose parents were among the early pioneers of Eaton County. Mrs. Shephard's grandfather in 1837 took up land from the Government and cleared it and made a home on which his children afterward lived. Mr. and Mrs. Shepherd have four children : Henry Bush Shepherd, Marion Ella Shepherd, Helen Elizabeth Shepherd and Katherine Louise Shepherd. CAPT. JULES MAURICE PIMIENTA. In Captain Pimienta. now professor of Romance Languages at the Toledo University, that city has a distinguished representative of the brilliant and versatile Frenchman of the higher class. Captain Pimienta, though only in the middle period of his life, has been through a vast range of experience. He earned his title by many years of military service. He has degrees from several of the foremost institutions of learning in Europe. He has been pretty much all over the world, served his flag in North Africa and China, and has held a number ofscholastic honors in some of the leading universities of America. He was born in Paris, France, November 2, 1864. His parents were M. L. and Angeline M. (Freyeney) Pimienta. The record of the family throughout has been filled with milltary honors. His parental great-grandfather was an Italian, was born at Milan, and when five years of age went to France with his parents. Later he joined the French army, and at one time he served under the revered American patriot Lafayette. Captain Pimienta's paternal grandfather was Albert H. Pimienta, an officer in the French army during the civil wars in France. M. L. Pimienta, father of the captain, was born and reared within six miles of Paris and also became a French military officer and died in Paris in 1888 at the age of fifty-nine. Captain Pimienta 's mother, who was born and reared at Bordeaux, is now living in Paris at the venerable age of ninety-seven years. Neither of his parents ever came to America. The maternal grandfather was Jules Maurice Freycney, after whom Captain Pimienta was named. This ancestor, as also his father before him, served as a paymaster in the French army. Captain Pimienta was one of a family of five sons and two daughters. Leon, the oldest, is now a brigadier general under the command of General Roque, and at last accounts was stationed on the west wing of the French army at Verdun. Captain Pimienta is the second in order of birth. Henri Robert is a military surgeon serving along the French front in the present war. Gustave is a lieutenant in the French navy. Emile is an officer in the Algeria cavalry and now stationed at Saloniki. The two daughters, Helen and Camille, died in childhood. Captain Pimienta attended the elementary and high schools of Paris, the University of Sorbonne, where he graduated with the degree bachelor of science, and he also took a special course at the military college. He then entered the regular army of France. While on a leave of absence he was graduated from the University of Pisa in Italy with the degree bachelor of arts. Captain Pimienta became military attache to the French ambassador at Madrid, and while there attended the Graduate College of the University of Madrid, being awarded the degree master of arts. For a time he served as military attache to the French ambassador to Germany, and then resumed his place in the regular army. Captain Pimienta participated in the Tonkin war in China, also in the uprising in Tunis, and in the Algerian war. Three times he was wounded in action and received in recognition for his valor the medals of Tonkin, Tunis and Algeria, after which he was made a Chevalier of the Legion of Honor "For order of high scholarship and gallant military record." Altogether he saw nine years of continual service in the regular army of France and was honorably discharged with the rank corresponding to• our rank of captain of infantry. During the World's Columbian Exposition 1402 - HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO at Chicago in 1893 Captain Pimienta was especially detailed to act as chief military attache to the director general of the French Republic. It was this visit to America which committed him to a lasting love of American institutions, further cemented by ,his marriage to an estimable American woman whom he met in the City of Chicago. In 1898 at Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Captain Pimienta married Miss Josephine E. DeLong, who was born and reared in Wisconsin. Her father, now deceased, was a Frenchman, and her mother, who resides in Milwaukee, was born in Alsace. Captain and Mrs. Pimienta have four children as the fruit of their happy union : Lucy and Albert, both of whom were born in Wisconsin ; Leon, born in Mexico ; and Alice, born in Michigan. After returning to the United States in 1900, Captain Pimienta spent two years in Detroit, where he was associate professor of Romance Languages in the University of Michigan. Then followed a brief visit in Paris, and returning to America he went to Old Mexico, where he became professor of Modern Languages and a teacher in a military college of Mexico. He spent five years there. From Mexico his next place was in Montreal, Canada, where he was professor of Romance Languages at McGill University for two years. For a time Captain Pimienta taught languages in private classes at Chicago, but altogether was not favorably impressed with that city, and he then spent a year as professor of French in the State Normal School of Michigan at Ypsilanti. Then followed another year in Mexico as teacher, and on May 13, 1913, he arrived .in Toledo, where he has since been professor of Romance Languages in Toledo University. He is also employed as translator for the Overland, Toledo Computing Scale Company and other local manufacturing concerns. Captain Pimienta is a member of the Military Club of France and of the French Academy. He is a very eloquent orator and is master of the Spanish, French, Italian, Portuguese and English languages. He is a very influential and active democrat, and has done a great deal of service to that party during campaigns. In the presidential campaign of 1896 he delivered speeches for William Jennings Bryan in both English and French, and had the honor of drawing some of the largest audiences that heard any of the orators in that memorable campaign. He also took the stump for Governor Ferris of Michigan, campaigned for Bryan in his last race for the presidency, and made speeches in Chicago for Carter Harrison in the mayoralty campaign. He speaks French and Spanish in many of his campaign addresses, but is equally fluent in the use of perfect English. In fact his methods of teaching language have lately been adopted by many of our leading institutions of learning. In the 1916 campaign Captain Pimienta was one of the orators selected for Ohio in support of the campaign of Gen. Isaac R. Sherwood for Congress, and he was also engaged to speak in the East for President Woodrow Wilson. Altogether Captain Pimienta is one of the most interesting and engaging personalities in Toledo citizenship. WILLIAM JAMES FREY. If the Consciousness of duty well and unselfishly done, and of possessing universal personal esteem in every part of the city and county in which he. has spent over a half century, can bring happiness to an individual, such compensation for many years of strenuous and conscientious striving for the public welfare, must be enjoyed by William James Frey, probably the most prominent and public spirited citizen in Hancock County. To his public spirit both city. and county are indebted in many ways, particularly Findlay, for largely through his energy, determination and perseverance was the capital secured to install one of the finest water supply systems in the whole country, and not only was this accomplished but through his foresight and promptness, in an epidemic; was the source of the water uncontaminated, and the public health protected. In some countries a medal of public service would have been bestowed for work of such great beneficence. Mr. Frey served as county treasurer two terms of four years each. William James Frey was born at Bellefontaine, Ohio, December 9, 1854. He is of English and Scotch ancestry and of revolutionary stock. The earliest members of the family in the United States settled at Cumberland, Maryland. The parents of Mr. Frey, Samuel Dunbar and Priscilla Bell (Slicer) Frey, removed from Logan County, Ohio, to Findlay in 1863, and here the father engaged in business as a merchant. In the public schools of Findlay young William J. Frey was an attentive student and continued his studies in the high school where he took the full course and was one of two pupils of the first graduating class, the other HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO - 1403 being Doctor Tritch of Findlay. After supplementing this instruction with a commercial course in the Felton and Bigelow Commercial College at Cleveland, he entered his father's drug store on the corner of Sandusky and West Main streets (which was operated for thirty years) and there, in the old way, learned pharmacy. In 1874 Mr. Frey became a student of law in the office of Judge Michael Whitely, and remained with him for ten years, being admitted to the bar at Columbus, in 1879. In the meanwhile Mr. Frey became interested in public matters and in politics. His convictions led him into the ranks of the Jeffersonian democracy and political office was urged upon him almost from the beginning. For two terms he was chosen chairman of the democratic state central committee. In 1900 he was his party's candidate for congress from the Eighth District, a great republican stronghold, and although he was defeated at the election he ran 600 votes ahead of any predecessor. In other contests his personal popularity gave him a large vote, ,notably for the state senate, but the republicans on those occasions carried every county. On one occasion he had to take a determined stand to prevent his party from making him a candidate for governor. In 1913 he was elected mayor of Findlay and gave the city an admirable administration, practical, useful and honest. When Mr. Frey was young his father owned the land from beneath which emerges an underground river and this water, through artesian wells has been utilized in providing Findlay's magnificent water system. The water is conveyed a distance of fifteen miles from Lime Stone Ridge to the city line. For many years William James Frey sought to interest the people of Findlay in the unequaled water supply lying practically in its back yard, but many interests, for various reasons brought about contention and nothing was done. Mr. Frey secured the capital to purchase the necessary piping and during his administration as president of the waterworks board the system was completed, with the result that Findlay enjoys an abundance of pure sweet water not excelled anywhere. After all this effort there came a time when the good judgment, the wise public spirit and the legal knowledge of Mr. Frey were absolutely demanded in order to preserve this blessing for the people of this city. In the great epidemic of cattle plague that swept away the finest herds in many sections of different states, Hancock County suffered and over 600 diseased cattle were slaughtered, this happening in the vicinity of the water supply source. It was a grievous lack of sanitary precaution that led the officials in charge of this matter to contemplate burying the diseased carcasses where they were killed. No one seemed to be particularly interested when Mr. Frey protested, and it was necessary for him to secure an injunction to prevent this calamity. Otherwise the whole water supply would have been polluted and death and disaster would certainly have followed. Such an exhibition of 'real public spirit and humanitarian impulse could not be lost on his fellow citizens as soon as they realized the gravity of the situation. On April 16, 1891, Mr. Frey was united in marriage with Miss Mary Frances Gilcrist, of Vermilion, Ohio, a daughter of Abraham and Betsey Ruth (Clough) Gilcrist. Her ancestry is English and Irish and they came early to the American colonies and took part in the Revolutionary war. Her people came to Ohio from Shirley Hill, New Hampshire. Her father was a lumber merchant and ship owner and operated the Gilcrist Transportation line between Alpina, Michigan and Buffalo, New York. She was educated at Ann Arbor, Michigan and Oberlin College and is a cultured and gracious lady. Mr. and Mrs. Frey have one daughter, Florence Merriam who, with her mother, enjoys the city's pleasant social life, being interested also in serious things, Mrs. Frey being president of the City Federation of Women Clubs for two years. The family belongs to the First Methodist Church. Among the important business concerns to which Mr. Frey still gives attention may be mentioned the Cedar Point Amusement Company, of which he is a director; the Commercial Bank and Savings Company, of which he was one of the organizers and is a director; and the Majestic Theater, in which he owns stock and is a director. He owns valuable farm land in the vicinity of Findlay and the Frey business block in the city. He is a thirty-second degree Mason and belongs also to the Knights of Pythias and the Elks and finds social relaxation as a member of the Findlay Country Club. He is a generous, whole-souled man, led into many charitable enterprises through benevolent impulses. He is a loyal friend, a genial host and an incorruptible citizen. HORACE HOLCOMB. One of the most conspicuous figures in the financial history of 1404 - HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO Toledo was the late Horace Holcomb, who was identified with banking and merchandising in that city for nearly half a century, and who became the founder of the Holcomb National Bank, whose resources and splendid record were combined a few years ago with the National Bank of Commerce. By his fine integrity of character no less than by his commanding genius as a financier, the late Horace Holcomb was one of the dominating personalities in Toledo's commercial history. He was born at Granby, Connecticut, June 17, 1824. By inheritance and by his own careful life he 'possessed an iron constitution, an unbending will and an intellect of great strength and breadth. He was nearly seventy years of age when he passed away at his residence in Toledo, March 9, 1894. Reared under the wholesome influences of a New England community, he early went to New York City, and later became junior partner in the wholesale grocery firm of Kent, Pogue & Company. In 1858 he identified himself with the new City of Toledo, entering the wholesale grocery business with Robert Bell, under the name Bell, Holcomb & Company. Subsequently Bell and Holcomb took over the entire business and continued the firm as Bell & Holcomb for many years. In 1862 Mr. Holcomb became interested in the First National Bank, of which the late Valentine H. Ketcham was then president. Mr. Holcomb was made a director and was elected vice president. In 1871 Mr. Holcomb with Salmon Keeler and E. H. Norton founded the banking firm of Keeler, Holcomb & Company. This new bank was soon on a firm footing and in a flourishing condition. On July 1, 1891, the firm took out a charter becoming a national bank, and owing to the fact that Mr. Holcomb had for a number of years been the active head of the private bank, the new corporation was named the Holcomb National Bank, with Mr. Holcomb as president. He continued as president of this institution until his death three years later. After his death his son-in-law, Dr. William A. Hume, who succeeded to his interests as a director, became active in the management of the bank and the institution continued on its old footing until 1905. Doctor Hume then retired from all participation in the bank's affairs, and in 1907 the Holcomb National Bank was merged with the present National Bank of Commerce. Besides his holdings' as a banker the late Mr. Holcomb owned extensive real estate in Toledo, and was closely associated with all the larger business and public interests of the city. His was an unblemished business record, and his success was largely due to the fact that he scrupulously fulfilled every promise made. Men of his character add much to any city, and his life should be remembered as a part of the city's history and also for the hosts of friends such a career merited. FERDINAND E. WELCH. Thousands of citizens not only in Toledo but all over the country recall with affection the late Ferdinand E. Welch, who for twenty-two years was proprietor of the Boody House in Toledo. Before his retirement he had spent more than half a century in the hotel business, and had made the hotel keeping a profession. His ability to render ample and satisfactory service and his genial hospitality made him an almost ideal boniface. He was also an excellent citizen, as many people in Toledo will testify, and few men lay down the responsibilities of life with so much good to their credit as this splendid hotel proprietor. His death occurred at his residence in Toledo October 31, 1911. He was born in East Cleveland, at Euclid, Ohio, July 26, 1839. He was one of seven children of John and Rebecca (Merchant) Welch. His father, who spent his early life in Dutchess County, New York, was of revolutionary stock.. The Merchant family were from Jersey City, New Jersey. Ferdinand Welch was survived by three .of his parents' children : C. M. Welch, of Detroit Mrs. Burlingame, of Tecumseh, Michigan ; and Mrs. Randall Crawford, of Cleveland. For many years Ferdinand E. Welch was one of the most conspicuous figures in hotel life in the Middle West. When only fourteen years of age, in 1853, he began his apprenticeship in what was known as the Welch Tavern at Cleveland. His uncle was proprietor. After three years he accepted the position of clerk at the McHenry House in Meadville, Pennsylvania. He also had some early experience in the Weddell House in Cleveland. In 1861 he began his real career as a boniface by purchasing the restaurant and hotel at the old Great Western Depot in Cleveland. When the hotel was destroyed by fire two years later he became manager of the McHenry House in Meadville, where he had previously clerked. He operated that hostelry until 1868, when he sold out and bought from Shadrach Groff the Junction House in Lafayette, Indiana. He was proprietor of that old and well known hotel for fifteen years from 1872 to 1887. In HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO - 1405 the meantime he had made his first visit to Toledo and for a short time operated *the old Oliver House in that city. Returning to Toledo in 1887 Mr. Welch again succeeded Mr. Groff, who had been proprietor. of the Boody House since it was first opened for business in 1871. For some years Mr. Welch was associated with the late Mr. Hardy in the Boody House. The career of Mr. Welch during the twenty-two years he remained lessee of the Boody House is still fresh in the minds of the traveling public and the people of Toledo. Under his able management the house enjoyed a great popularity and became known from coast to coast. The old Boody House is now almost a thing of the past. It was erected in 1870 and for years was one of the conspicuous landmarks of the city. It is now about to be demolished to make room for the new modern sixteen story Bond Hotel. It was in July, 1906, after fifty-three years of active hotel experience that Mr. Welch turned over the Boody House to Chris Wall and Elmer C. Puffer and retired to private life. Mr. Welch had the distinction of founding the Ohio Hotel Men's State Association, one of the strongest organizations of its character in the country. He was the first president of the association and at the time of his death was a member of its executive committee. He also served as president of the Toledo Hotel Association. A successful business man, he was at one time a director in The Ketcham National Bank, now The First National Bank of Toledo. Ferdinand Welch, was extremely popular with the traveling public and was literally the genial host. After his retirement he built a splendid home on one of the principal streets of Toledo and lived there until his death. The residence is still the home of Mrs. Welch. Mr. Welch was active in the. Toledo Club, the Knights of Pythias and the Royal Arcanum. In 1863 he married Miss Mary Richardson of Maumee. Their only child is Mrs. J. S. McHugh of Lafayette, Indiana. NORMAN LAMONT MACLACHLAN, M. D. A resident of Findlay for more than a quarter of a century, and one of the leading medical men of the city. Doctor Maclachlan is perhaps most widely known through his successful cooperation and official conduct of various large business interests. Without doubt he is one of the foremost business men in this section of Northwest Ohio. A native of Ontario. Canada, where he was born November 26, 1854, he was seven years of age when his parents moved to Argyle Township in Sanilac County, Michigan. His mother's name was Mary Black, and both the Blacks and Maclachlans were of sturdy Scotch stock, coming to Canada from Argyle-shire in 1842. Doctor Maclachlan attended the common schools at Argyle in Michigan, and in 1875 entered the University of Michigan, where he was graduated in 1878. He studied medicine under various private practitioners, and for eleven years was successfully identified with his profession in Cass City, .Michigan. Doctor Maclachlan moved to Findlay, Ohio, in 1889 and has enjoyed some of the more distinctive honors of his profession. For twenty-three years he has been local surgeon for the Cincinnati, Hamilton and Dayton Railway Company ; from 1898 to 1906 he was surgeon of the Findlay Home and Hospital ; and is local medical examiner to the State Industrial Commission. For sixteen years he was secretary and member of the local United States Board of Pension Examiners. He is an active member of all the medical societies. During his residence in Cass City, Michigan, Dr. MAlaclachlan served as mayor in 1883-1884. For six years he was a member of the Findlay City Council and two years was its president boards a member of the school boa-rd in 1894-1895. Politically he is a republican and has always been an ardent admirer of former President Roosevelt. He was a Roosevelt delegate from the Eighth Ohio district to the National Republican Convention in 1912 at Chicago. He is a member and president of the Findlay Commerce Club, is also president of the Up-to-Date Club, a member of the Findlay Country Club, and is affiliated with the Masons, in which he has attained the thirty-second degree of Scottish Rite, the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, with the Odd Fellows and with the Maccabees. His business connections are with a number of the best known industries of Findlay. He was formally president of the Buckeye Traction Ditcher Company, an office he filled for six years, was formerly vice president of the company two years, and has been a director for thirteen years. This is one of the industries which gave place of prominence to Findlay as an industrial city. He has been a director in the Commercial Bank, Savings and Trust Company since its organization in 1901 and is now vice president. He is also president and director of the Adams Axle Company, a concern employing 150 men. He 1406 - HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO is vice president of the Vanlue Banking Company, and is president of the Findlay Publishing Company, publishers of The Morning Republican, the leading newspaper of Hancock County. On November 27, 1889, Doctor Maclachlan married Miss Emma Jackson of Blenheim, Ontario, a daughter of John Jackson. Mrs. Maclachlan died June 12, 1907, leaving one daughter, who is now Mrs. H. W. MacPhail, of Raymond, Washington, and the mother of one son, Norman C. MacPhail. Doctor Maclachlan remarried, July 27, 1916, to Miss Lena Gertrude Roling, of Columbus, Ohio, a daughter of Anthony and Mary Lena (Andres) Roling. Mrs. Maclachlan was for several years engaged in educational work as supervisor of primary methods in public schools, and was also noted as a lecturer before educational institutes. She has contributed articles to many of the educational magazines. She is a graduate of Teachers College, Columbia University, New York City. NOAH H. SWAYNE of Toledo is one of the most widely known lawyers of Northwestern Ohio, and his work has conferred additional honor upon a name which became distinguished in Ohio and throughout the nation through his father, who was also Noah H. Swayne, and who for many years was an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. While Justice Swayne was never a resident of Northwestern .Ohio, there is every reason and fitness for referring briefly to his career in these pages. Justice Noah Haynes Swayne was born in Culpeper County, Virginia, December 7, 1804, and was nearly eighty years of age when he died in New York City June 8, 1884. He was a descendant of Francis Swayne, who had immigrated to this country in the days of William Penn, accompanied by his family, and settled near Philadelphia. Joshua Swayne, father of Judge Swayne, retained his membership in the Society of Friends. He removed to Virginia, locating at the Town of Waterford, and gave his son a liberal education. The early studies of the lad were directed toward the medical profession and at one time he served as an apothecary 's clerk in Alexandria. Through the death of his teacher this plan was interrupted. His father died not long afterward, and his mother being unable to provide for his support while pursuing a collegiate course, he took up the study of law in Warrenton and was admitted to the Virginia bar in 1823. In 1825 Judge Swayne came to Ohio and opened an office at Coshocton. He served as prosecuting attorney of the county in 1826-29, and was then elected as a Jefferson democrat to the Ohio Legislature. In 1830 President Jackson appointed him United States district attorney for Ohio, and he soon afterwards removed to Columbus and filled the office until 1841. While in that office, in 1833, he declined an appointment as president judge of the Court of Common Pleas. He also served as a commissioner to manage the state debt, and as a member of a committee sent by the governor to effect a settlement of the boundary lines between the states of Ohio and Michigan. In 1840 he was a member of the committee to inquire into the condition of the State Blind Asylum. Becoming interested in public charities, he ever afterwards took a leading part in organizing and visiting asylums and institutions for the blind, the deaf and dumb and lunatics. After leaving the United States district attorneyship, he resumed private practice. The trial of William Rossane and others in the United States District Court at Columbus in 1853 for burning the steamboat Martha Washington to obtain the insurance was one of his most celebrated cases. He also appeared as counsel in fugitive slave cases, and owing to his anti-slavery opinions joined the republican party on its formation. It was characteristic of his essential kindliness of nature and his views and principles on justice that as early as 1832 he emancipated a number of slaves acquired by his marriage. His bold utterances upon public questions in the trying years preceding the war made him one of the many conspicuous Ohio leaders of that time, and on January 14, 1862, he was appointed by President Lincoln one of the associate justices of the Supreme Court at the most critical hour in the history of that tribunal. He was appointed in place of John McLean, deceased, and was commissioned on January 24, 1862. He served on the Supreme Bench until 1881, when he resigned on account of advanced age. The degree doctor of laws was conferred upon him by Dartmouth and Marietta colleges in 1863, and by Yale in 1865. Carson's History of the Supreme Bench speaks of him as follows : "A judge of unusual capacity, familiar with adjudged cases, and with settled habits of labor and research, of genial and benevolent courtesy, singularly amiable in disposition, and patient even with HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO - 1407 the dullest, he won not only the esteem but the warmest affection of the bar." Two of the sons of the late Justice Swayne now reside in New York, Gen. Wager Swayne and Frank Swayne, the latter for many years a resident of Toledo. Gen. Wager Swayne was a practicing lawyer in Ohio when the Civil war broke out, went to the front as a major of the Forty-third Ohio Volunteers, came out of the war a major general, and afterwards joined the regular army and was brevetted brigadier general. Following his military services in the South he was an active aid to the Federal Government in the establishment of schools and in carrying out the reconstruction plan in the southern states, and subsequently for some years practiced at Toledo. Noah H. Swayne, of Toledo, was born in Maryland in 1847. The position of his father gave him many opportunities and advantages during his youth, and he graduated from Yale University with the class of 1870. He also took up the profession of his father, and was prepared in the Columbian Law School at Washington and admitted to practice in the Supreme Court in 1873. Returning to Toledo, he has ever since for a period of forty years or more occupied a foremost position in the Lucas County bar. His practice has extended over a wide range of territory. The firm of Swayne, Swayne, Hayes & Tyler had for many years a clientage probably not surpassed by any other firm in Ohio, and including vast interests of many leading corporations as well as wealthy individuals. The law library of Mr. Swayne is said to be one of the most extensive private libraries in the Northwest, and among other works it includes the only full and complete private collection of legislative and judicial reports upon tad affecting the Northwest Territory, from the beginning of legislation at Philadelphia down to the present time, that there is in existence. While Mr. Swayne has taken an active interest in politics as a republican, he has steadfastly refused to become a candidate for any office, political or judicial, with the exception that he was a member of the Sixty-fifth General Assembly. While in the Assembly he rendered Toledo a most valuable service. As his father had drawn the hulk of the laws up to that time regarding the care and maintenance of the insane, Mr. Swayne also took a great interest in the same line, and made special sort in their behalf while in the Legislature. While the question of taking care of the overflow among the patients of the various institutions was being discussed, he defeated a bill to add to the capacity of the asylums already built and went to work to create the necessary legislation for the establishment of a new institution. He wisely deferred bringing the question of location into the original measure. He first assured himself of the proper steps to build the new asylum, and before the appointment of a commission to fix the location he interviewed the various state officials and had incorporated into the act the name of such officers comprising the commission as would favor Toledo. The result is best told in the magnificent system of buildings for the insane now found in one of Toledo's suburbs. This city as well as Ohio in general owe a great debt to Mr. Swayne for this work. Mr. Swayne was a member of the Chicago convention of 1916 that nominated Charles E. Hughes for President. He is prominent in Toledo financial affairs, being a director of the Second National Bank. For years he was a member and president of the Toledo Public Library Board, and that institution owes a great deal to his interest and work. In younger years Mr. Swayne was very fond of athletics, and has always retained that interest and there is today no more devoted baseball "fan" than he. He provided the magnificent ball park in Toledo which is called "Swayne Field" in his honor. This is the finest ball park in Northwest Ohio. Socially Mr. Swayne is very popular and a member of many different clubs including the University Club of New York, the Country Club, Middle Bass Club and Toledo Clubs of Toledo, and he also belongs to the Toledo Commerce Club. On March 15, 1886, he married Frances Sickles of St. Louis. CHARLES FREDERICK MATHER NILES. A prominent banker, and until recently president of the Security Savings Bank & Trust Company of Toledo, Charles Frederick Mather Niles inherited his taste and talents for banking. His father, Charles E. Niles, was president and one of the founders of the First National Bank of Findlay, Ohio. His capacity for finance and business organization has made him a notable factor in Toledo commercial history. Probably more than any other individual he has been entrusted with important receiverships, among which were the Toledo Commercial and the Toledo and Indiana Electric Railroad. He also rendered some valuable public service 1408 - HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO during the four years he was safety director of Toledo. Charles Frederick Mather Niles was born at Hudson, Michigan, April 4, 1859, and has enjoyed a very active business career for the past thirty-five years. He received his education in public schools and in the University of Wooster, Ohio, where he graduated A. B. in 1882, and in 1885 received the degree Master of Arts. While in college he was Washington Orator and was editor in chief of the University Index. Coming from a family of means, he was able to gratify his tastes and desires for culture, and after leaving Wooster University he went abroad and was a student in London, England, and Dresden, Germany Mr. Niles has always been an active democrat. During his first administration President Cleveland appointed him Register of the United States Land Office at Garden City, Kansas. While in Kansas Mr. Niles was admitted to the bar, but so far as known has never handled any legal business except such as has been connected with banking or other private affairs. Mr. Niles served as president of the Garden City Bank, of the Hodge-man County Bank of Jetmore, was a director of the First National Bank of Garden City, and of a bank at Mead Center, all in Kansas, and was also a .director of the Kansas Southwestern Railroad. After leaving Kansas Mr. Miles was president of the Continental National Bank at Memphis, Tennessee, and in 1897 was elected president of the Tennessee Bankers Associations, but in 1898 came to Toledo and organized the Security Trust Company. Later a savings department was added, and the Security Savings Bank and Trust Company is now one of Toledo's leading financial and fiduciary institutions. Mr. Niles served as president of the bank until his retirement on January 1, 1916. In addition to his services in connection with financial institutions, Mr. Niles has utilized many unusual opportunities to associate with and assist young men. While in Wooster University he became a member of the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity, and has always kept up his associations with that body and has received many honors from the national fraternity. He first attended the biennial G. A. C. at Washington in 1880, and has hardly missed a meeting of the body since then, and it is said that he has a larger acquaintance among Phi Kappa Psi men than any other individual. For a number of years he served as national treasurer and one term as national president, and was long a member of its executive council. Mr. Niles is also active in Masonry, having attained the thirty-second degree of Scottish Rite and is a member of the Mystic Shrine. He has enjoyed a delightful home life, and has an attractive residence at 2062 Robinwood Avenue. Mrs. Niles before her marriage was Miss Fannie I. Sneath. Her father was the late Samuel B. Sneath, a well known banker of Tiffin. Mr. and Mrs. Niles had four children : Louise, wife of Samuel E. Gates and living in Spokane, Washington ; Fredericka, wife of Harry T. Loew of Toledo ; Sarah, at home ; and Charles, who had nearly completed. his course at Purdue University in Lafayette, Indiana, preparatory to a promising career, when he was drowned by the upsetting of a canoe near Monroe, Michigan. JOSEPH PARKER BAKER, M. D. There are some individuals who always manage to find the opportunity, or to create it, to attend to good works whether of a public or private nature. Dr. Joseph Parker Baker is pre-eminently one of this class, and, fortunately for the development of the best interests of Findlay, does not stand alone. He is a member of the group of able citizens whose civic interest and pride are equal to their business and professional enterprise and ambition and who are centering every possible energy upon the perfection of better conditions and the improvement of the municipal service. Of broad education and fine, sympathetic nature, as well as of strength and courage, he is peculiarly and admirably adapted to be associated with the progressive guard of such a city as Findlay. Doctor Baker was born June 9, 1864, in Perry Township, Wood County, Ohio, and is a son of Joshua Cope and Clarissa A. (Moore) head) Baker. On his father's side he is of German-English descent, and on his mother’s of Scotch-Irish ancestry, the progenitor of the Cope family settling in Pennsylvania with William Penn. When Doctor Baker was one year old the family moved to Allen Township, Hancock County, and there he grew up on the farm, his early education being secured in the public schools of Findlay. After a course in the Delaware Business College, he took up school teaching at West Millgrove and later followed the same vocation at Bairdstown, his experience as an educator covering in all a period of seven years. During this time he had not relinquished his early ambition of a HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO - 1409 career in medicine, and when he found the leisure from the duties of the schoolroom applied himself resolutely to his studies. Finally he placed himself under the preceptorship of Dr. Anson Hurd, the oldest physician of Findlay, under whose instruction he remained three years. With this preparation he entered Sterling Medical College in 1888, and in 1890, after a brilliant college career, graduated as president of his class. Immediately after his graduation, Doctor Baker opened an office at Findlay and settled down to a general practice. He was not content, however, to remain in the ranks of the mediocre, and accepted every opportunity to further himself in his profession. A constant student, he took special courses at the New York Polyclinic and the New York Post-Graduate Hospital, and in 1911 and 1916 took a post-graduate course at Harvard. From the time of his entrance into professional ranks his practice has grown and developed, until today he is accounted one of the leading physicians of the city. Doctor Baker is a member of the American Medical Association, the Ohio State Medical Society, the Northwestern Ohio Medical Society, and the Hancock County Medical Society. His practice is general, which, with a love of medical study, makes him one of the most widely read members of his calling in this part of the state. While Doctor Baker is widely known for his achievements in his profession, he is equally so for his activities in civic affairs. He has always been actively and unselfishly interested in the betterment of social conditions for his locality, a work which has been facilitated by his incumbency of the office of president of the Findlay Board of Health during the past twenty years. He has worked faithfully and continuously for better housing, better ventilation, better sanitary conditions and better water, and in the last-named direction was the most prominent factor, with ex-Mayor Frey, in securing for Findlay its present unequalled artesian water supply. A practical humanitarian, he is noted for his good deeds, and as president of the Charity Association of Findlay has done much to aid the unfortunate of the city. He takes a helpful interest also in commercial affairs, as a member of the Findlay Business Men's Association, and his fellow-members therein are ever ready to give respectful attention to his sound, practical suggestions. Doctor Baker is a member of the Findlay Country Club, and is prominent fraternally, being a thirty-second degree Scottish Rite Mason and a member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks Lodge No. 75, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Knights of Pythias. Doctor Baker married Miss Harriet Schwartz, a daughter of Henry Schwartz, a pioneer merchant of Findlay, in 1892. They are members of the First Lutheran Church of Findlay. ERNEST BOURNER ALLEN, D. D. Since Octo ber 1, 1901, Ernest Bourner Allen, D. D., has been pastor of the First Congregational Church of Toledo. This service, now covering fifteen years, makes his one of the longest continuous pastorates among the Protestant churches of the city. Doctor Allen is in fact one of the leading Congregational ministers of the country. He has specially distinguished himself by his work among young people, and his church has one of the largest Sunday schools in Ohio. He is a minister of high ideals, of enthusiasm, a good preacher, an organizer and leader of men, and has identified himself closely with all civic movements in Toledo during the last fifteen years. He was born at Kalamazoo, Michigan, June 2, 1868, a son of George Ladd and Harriet (Bourner) Allen. During his boyhood up to the age of fifteen he attended the public schools and also Parsons Business College at Kalamazoo, and then followed various commercial pursuits for a livelihood from 1883 until 1888. With a higher education in mind and a professional career to follow, Doctor Allen then entered Olivet College in Michigan, where he was graduated B. A. in 1895. In 1903 he graduated Bachelor of Divinity from the Oberlin Theological Seminary. In 1907 his alma mater Olivet College conferred upon him the degree D. D. Ordained in the Congregational ministry September 19, 1895, Doctor Allen was pastor at Lansing, Michigan, from that date until 1901, and has since been at the head of the large church in Toledo. He was a trustee of the Ohio Congregational Conference from 1907 to 1914, and during 1910-11 was moderator of the church. He has been corresponding editor of the Congregationalist of Boston since 1910, and contributing editor to The Advance at Chicago since the same year. He is a trustee of Olivet College, having held that post since 1897. Doctor Allen has been a member of the board of trustees of the Federation of Charities, is a trustee of the Toledo 1410 - HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO City Mission and a member of the Toledo Commerce Club. Doctor Allen is a skillful writer of both prose and poetry. It should not be neglected to mention that he is author of "The Toledo Creed," which has been adopted as defining and stating the spirit of the City of Toledo, Ohio. ELIHU WARNER TOLERTON. During his thirty years of residence in Toledo the late Elihu Warner Tolerton impressed his life and influence on many individuals and institutions outside of his own profession, which was that of the law. He was one of the foremost lawyers of Northwest Ohio, and possessed the character, talents and varied learning which give dignity and value to the legal calling. His birthplace was Salem, Ohio, and there he was laid to rest. At the time of his death, which occurred at his home, 1704 Jefferson Avenue, in Toledo, August 22, 1905, he was fifty-six years old. He was born May 14, 1849, a son of Hill Tolerton. As a boy he attended country schools, but following the leadings of an active ambition he entered Allegheny College at Meadville, Pennsylvania, where he was graduated A. B. in 1871. He was also Greek salutatorian and prize essayist in the Philo Franklin Literary Society. Soon after graduation from college he was admitted to the bar at New Lisbon, near Salem, which was then the county seat of Columbiana County. Coming to Toledo he opened a law office in the old Anderson Block, but in 1875 moved to the Produce Exchange Building. He was the first tenant of that -old landmark in Toledo, and never moved his offices from the structure during the thirty years of his active practice. At the time of his death his office was in room 43. Mr. Tolerton was practically without experience in the law when he came to Toledo, but by diligent work and a conscientious devotion to the interests of his clients he built up and acquired a practice such as few of his fellow members of the bar enjoyed. With his increasing prestige as a lawyer, large affairs were entrusted to his charge, and in 1887 he was appointed attorney for the Pennsylvania lines, a position he held until his death. He was also connected with the Manufacturers Railroad after that property had been sold by Alex Backus and W. H. A. Reed, its builders and owners, to Thomas H. Tracy. At that time the railroad had tracks from Locust to Olive Street and track right to the north city line. Mr. Tolerton was foremost in public affairs, and became prominent in commerce, being interested in the establishment of many of the city's best known commercial institutions. At the time of his death he was a director and attorney for the National Bank of Commerce, The Toledo Machine and Tool Company, The Toledo Metal Wheel Company, The Harris Toy Company, and a number of others. It is said that he was probably the most heavily insured man in Toledo. He carried more than $100,000 in various companies. There was that about the late Mr. Tolerton which commended him to the respect and admiration of his fellow men. He took great pleasure in the fraternities of his college and was in full membership of the Phi Beta Kappa, and Phi Kappa Psi, having been initiated in the former about two years before his death while paying a visit to his old college. This honor was greatly appreciated b him. Mr. Tolerton early united with th Methodist Episcopal Church, and was lo identified with St. Paul's Church at Toled The present splendid edifice of that church at the corner of Madison Avenue and Thirteenth Street, was largely due to his w planning and individual generosity. For thirty years he conducted the Men's Bible Class of the church, and many scores of Toled men attended that class and considered it on of the most important events and occasion of each week. Mr. Tolerton was not a ro tine teacher. He taught largely by talking rather than asking questions, taking his subject or text from the regular Sunday school lesson. From the wealth of his experience he was able to vitalize the talks, and all who ever attended the class regarded such attendance as a great privilege and recall with pleasure the hours spent there under his instruction. For many years he also served as a member of the board of stewards of St. Paul Church. After coming to Toledo, on May 4, 1875, Mr. Tolerton married Miss Mary Wilbur, a Toledo girl. Their four children are all living, as follows : Harry H. Tolerton now in business at San Francisco, California Lucy, wife of Richard W. Kirkley, formerly an attorney at Toledo but now a resident of Los Angeles, California ; May W., of Pasadena, California; Wilbur D., of Pasadena, Mrs. Tolerton is also now a resident of Pasadena. HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO - 1411 OTTO DEWEY DONNELL. Among the young men of Northwest Ohio who within the space of a few short years have attained to positions of prominence in the business world, a number of those best known have found in the oil business the medium through which their success has been gained. This industry, which is one of the leading ones in the life of Northwest Ohio, has constant and pressing need of young men of ability, mechanical knowledge and perseverance, who are willing to give themselves whole-heartedly to the interests of the business, and such a one is found in the person of Otto Dewey Donnell, who, at the age of thirty-three years, is vice president of the Ohio Oil Company, of Findlay, and one of the most prominent business men of this thriving industrial city. Further, he occupies an acknowledged place, in the civic and social life of the city and of recent years has done much to advance its interests. Mr. Donnell was born at Allentown, Allegany County, New York, September 26, 1883, and is a son of James C. and Sadie (Flinn) Donnell. On his father's side of the family he is of Irish descent, while his mother belongs to the Southern Randolphs, an old Virginia family whose members bear a distinguished position in the history of the South. Mr. Donnell was still a child when brought by his parents to Findlay, and here his early education was secured in the graded and high schools, from the latter of which he was duly graduated. Being of a scientific bent, he was next sent to the Case School of Applied Science, at Cleveland, and was graduated from that institution in the class of 1906, receiving the degree of Bachelor of Science. Returning to Findlay. he entered the employ of the Ohio Oil Company, the largest producers of oil in the Buckeye State, his first position being that of mechanical engineer. Subsequently, be was made manager of construction, and finally was advanced to the office of vice president, the position which he now holds. His father, James C. Donnell, is president of this company, which owns 18,000 wells, of which 12,000 are producing at this time. Mr. Donnell is justly accounted one of the best informed men in the oil business in Ohio today. His entire career, since leaving school, has been devoted to his present line of work, and he has thoroughly and systematically mastered its many departments, so that he has a prac. tical, working knowledge of every phase of the business of oil production. He is also vice president of the Electric Construction Corn- pany, another large Findlay enterprise, and in business circles is generally regarded a sound, energetic and capable man of affairs, with a keen foresight, sound initiative and a power of resource. If Mr. Donnell is well known in business circles, he is equally so in civic affairs. Always a friend of the schools and a firm believer in the necessity of thorough mental training, on January 1, 1916, he was elected president of the Findlay Board of Education, for a term of two years. He is also chairman of the building committee of the board, and in this capacity has already supervised the operations on two new graded schools, known as the Washington and the Lincoln. His work in this connection is of marked benefit to his city. Politically he is an independent republican, but he has not allowed politics to interfere with either his business or his civic affairs, his principal interest in public matters lying in his desire to see good men elected and good measures passed. Fraternally he stands high in Masonry, belonging to the Knights Templar and to Zenobia Temple, Ancient Arabic Order of Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, and is also a member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. He was one of the principal organizers and president of the Findlay Country Club, and is a golf enthusiast who plays an excellent game. Mr. Donnell's religious affiliations is with the First Presbyterian Church, of which he is now acting as a member of the board of trustees. In 1908 Mr. Donnell was united in marriage with Miss Glenn McClelland, of Findlay, and to this union there have been born three children : James C. II, John Randolph and Otto Dewey Jr. SAMUEL HILDEBRAND. America is a country noted for its remarkable contrast in the material fortunes of individuals. There have been so many cases to prove the point that it is not regarded as extraordinary when the poor and humble clerk of today becomes the rich merchant of tomorrow, or the child born in the log cabin becomes a man entrusted with the destinies of a state or nation. About the beginning of the year 1889 there arrived at Castle Garden, New York, a little party of a dozen Europeans, all French people except one Swiss boy, Samuel Hildebrand by name. Samuel Hildebrand was unable to understand or speak a word of English. He brought no capital with him, though he was skilled in the mechanical trade of carpenter. 1412 - HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO. He had been born of poor parents in Canton Berne, Switzerland, March 17, 1863. A few years after his birth his father died, and at the age of five he was taken into the home of his mother's sister, Mrs. Jacob Knuth. His own mother died after he came to America. He had limited opportunities as a boy, and at the age of fifteen after finishing his schooling he began making his own way. For the next ten years he visited various European countries, learned the trade of cabinet maker, and during some months in 1888 was employed in Paris on the buildings and grounds where in the following year the Paris Exposition was held. It was after that work that he started for America. Samuel Hildebrand arrived in Toledo in the spring of 1889. He was a good workman in spite of the handicap of lack of understanding of English language, and was soon employed as a journeyman carpenter. After working for various parties for two and a half years he entered the furniture factory of Valentine Ketcham. In .the meantime he attended night school regularly in order to learn the English language. It was courage and initiative which took him out of the ranks of wage earner and into a business of his own. He concluded that there was no profit in working for some one else, and having the skill and the experience he embarked as a contractor on March 1, 1892, and since then, for almost a quarter of a century, has been steadily at work in the contracting business at Toledo. Many substantial buildings in the city attest his skill and thoroughness. -Among those may be mentioned the Stamm Building, at the corner of Thirteenth and Missouri streets, the Mohler Block on the opposite corner of the same streets, Capf 's Hall on Western Avenue, and a number of the better residences. One of the first contracts he ever took was for the erection of the Miller Club House in Oregon Township of Lucas County. This Club House was destroyed by fire in 1909. Mr. Hildebrand also built his residence at 2456 Broadway. Deserving of special mention is Hildebrand Terrace which he erected at the corner of Broadway and St. James Court. This building has the distinction of being the first in Toledo to be constructed by what is known as "the continuous hollow wall system," a process for which Mr. Hildebrand owns the exclusive right for Lucas. Wood and Ottawa counties. The characteristic feature is double walls of concrete with a dead air space be tween, and this feature eliminates the dampness which is so common in most concrete construction and also deadens noise, so that the hollow wall system is especially adapted to the construction of apartment houses and similar buildings. Mr. Hildebrand has platted and added three additions to the City of Toledo and has dedicated three streets to the city, Hildebrand Avenue, St. James Court, Water Works Drive and a part of Foraker Avenue and Hoffman Street. A bit of interesting municipal history is revealed in his connection with St. James Court. Being the owner of all the abutting property on that street he was awarded a contract by the Board of Public Service to pave the street with metropolitan block pavement. This is probably the only case of its kind in Toledo where the owner of the adjacent property has paid himself as the contractor for the paying of a street, and it is a significant testimonial to the fact, that though a contractor who had to pay himself for his work, he in no wise slighted his performance, and the St. James Court is even now regarded as the best paved street in Toledo. Mr. and Mrs. Hildebrand deeded the City of Toledo, Hildebrand Avenue. This avenue cost them $1,500, but they received nothing from the city for it. Many years ago Mr. Hildebrand more out of the essential honesty of his nature than as a definite and practical policy, based his work upon the principles of giving prompt attention to every contract, using good material, high class workmanship, and making the job satisfy his own expert criticism as well as those for whom he performed the work. Thus he has long enjoyed a reputation for honest work and the fulfillment of all his promises. From individual contracts he has perhaps not derived as much profit as other men less conscientious, but on the whole he has been successful, and his success is built upon the solid cornerstone of honesty and efficiency, and such a reputation is worth more than money. Mr. Hildebrand has became a prominent citizen of Toledo, and has for years interested himself in local politics. He has served as precinct committeeman, and in 1908 was chosen as a delegate to the National Convention of the republican party that nominated William Taft for president. He has also represented the Tenth Ward republicans in the State Convention. He is a member of the Toledo Commerce Club, the Builders Ex- HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO - 1413 change, the Second German Reformed Church of Toledo. has a host of friends in his adopted city and his career is one that reflects honor on the community. May 9, 1891, he married Miss. Eva. M. Seebeurger. Her father, Jacob. Seebeurger, was one of the earliest German settlers of Riga, Lenawee County, Michigan, where he and his wife are buried. Mrs. Hildebrand was horn, reared and educated there. Mr. and Mrs. Hildebrand's four children, all of whom. have been educated in the Toledo public schools are : Elmer, Raymond, Alice and Florence. MATTHEW BARTLETT is one of the veteran merchants of Toledo. His has been a long and successful career, and he has been identified with this city through all its important developments and has witnessed its growth from a place of a few thousand into one of the metropolitan centers of the Middle West. Frequent honors have been paid him, but his real service could not be measured by such distinctions. He has been a substantial business man with the old fashioned type of integrity, served his adopted country at the time of the Civil war, has also held office under the city government, and is one of the best known Odd Fellows in the State of Ohio. A native of England, he was born in the parish of Somerset in the City of Bath, April 19, 1841, a son of Matthew and Fannie (Baker) Bartlett. His father was born in Devonshire and was a cabinet maker and builder by trade. Third in a family of ten children, six sons and four daughters, Matthew Bartlett early gave evidence of that venturesome spirit and enterprise which subsequently brought him to Toledo and made him a leading factor in its affairs. When five years of age he was sent to the Broad Street School, an institution that had been founded in 1744 and is still in existence. At that time it was conducted under the auspices of St. Michael's Church. He was a student there five years. Soon after his return home he ran away, led by his love of adventure and a desire to see more of the world. That was more than sixty years ago, and since then. he has reaped a rich fund of experience. For a time he was employed as a messenger boy between Bristol and Clifton and then 'going to London took passage on an American ship seventy-two days later landed him in New York City. His westward journeying was continued on board the Francis Skiddy up Vol. III—6 the Hudson River to Albany, and from there he went by stage to Troy, where his uncle lived. Mr. Bartlett lived with his uncle until 1854. In that year he came to Toledo, accepting a position with Ralph Cross, a jeweler, and was in his employ three years. The next three years were spent in the office of Doctor Estill, a dentist, and he acquired a thorough knowledge of all departments of the profession as it was then practiced. He also had some experience as clerk in a dry goods store of S. Smiley. In 1861 Mr. Bartlett engaged in business for himself in partnership with James Moore under the firm name of Moore & Bartlett, and they conducted a jewelry store on Summit Street until 1864. On New Year's Day of 1866 Mr. Bartlett married Miss Josephine Holmes, who had lived in Pittsburg prior to her marriage. Recently the Toledo papers gave considerable space to the event of Mr. and Mrs. Bartlett's celebration of their fiftieth or golden wedding anniversary. In an interview given a reporter of the Toledo Daily Blade at that time Mr. Bartlett described some of his early experiences in Toledo. Among other things he is reported to have said : "Toledo was known as Mud Town when I came here. It had about five thousand people. Huron street was out of town, the principal business being on Summit and Monroe streets. The site of the building where I have been located for years in the furniture business at Jefferson and Erie streets was then under water, and beyond that was hazel brush. The largest part of the city's business was done on Summit street below Cherry. The best hotel in the city was the American hotel at Summit and Elm streets. The most promi- nent man in the city then was Major Stickney, who owned a bank at Manhattan." He then described his military service : "About this time a provisional regiment was raised in Toledo to prevent the burning of our elevators, which had been threatened. We remained' on duty here until President Lincoln asked Governor Tod. to furnish a well drilled and equipped regiment to guard Confederate prisoners at Johnson's Island. There were twenty-five hundred prisoners none below the rank of second lieutenant.. We remained on guard until we went out as the 130th Ohio Volunteer Infantry and faced General Longstreet's Corps at Petersburg. The regiment continued in service until the close of the war." In command of the regiment was Colonel Henry Phillips, and Mr. 1414 - HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO Bartlett was a member of Company B. He was in many engagements including the siege of Petersburg, and in September, 1864, was discharged and returned to Toledo. During his service on Johnson's Island he was one of the men who discovered the plot of the Confederates to escape. One of his duties was the reading of letters written by prisoners to their homes. Noticing one day that the letters looked wrinkled, he held them up before a fire until they were thoroughly dried out when it was found that the prisoners had written in milk details about the island and telling friends in the South how to release them. The heat from the fire turned the milk black. Thus it was an extensive plot was foiled, and the story of how the plans were frustrated has often been told and it is a matter of special interest that a Toledo man was instrumental in preventing the escape of a large number of Confederates. After the war Mr. Bartlett became head clerk for LaSalle & Epstein, now the firm of LaSalle & Koch, dry goods merchants, with whom he was associated until 1868. Then with S. Smiley he bought the furniture business previously owned by Rigby Brothers, and thus became established in the furniture trade, and is in point of continuous service the oldest merchant of that class in Toledo. Four months after the partnership was formed Mr. Smiley died, and the business has since been conducted through the organization built up by Mr. Bartlett. In 1890 he erected a fine business block, five stories high, of brick with stone front, and the entire space is now utilized by the business. Mr. aid Mrs. Bartlett have one son, Charles. Politically he is a republican. He is a member of the Board of Memorial Hall Trustees, and he served the city well as a member of the board of police commissioners under Mayor Guy Major and during the first term of Mayor Jones. In Odd Fellowship Mr. Bartlett has had every honor that the state could bestow, and is now a member of the staff of Gen. John Reeves of the Patriarchs Militant with jurisdiction over Ohio and Virginia. He is the oldest member living of Waupakonica Lodge No. 38, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and has filled all its chairs and has been grand master of the State of Ohio. He organized and drilled Canton Imperial, of the Patriarchs Militant, and has instituted or assisted in instituting every Odd Fellow Lodge in Lucas, Wood, Ottawa; Williams and Fulton counties. He has the finest grand master's jewel in the state. He celebrated his fiftieth anniversary of service in the Odd Fellows Lodge in May, 1916, at the same time that he and his wife celebrated their golden wedding. He was one of the original members of the Patriarchal Circle, organized in Toledo, this subsequently being succeeded by the Patriarchs Militant. He is also one of the organizers of Concord Lodge No. 149, Knights of Pythias, and is a past chancellor. He is also a member of Forsyth Post No. 15, Grand Army of the Republic, at Toledo. "MAPLE LODGE" Residence of Mr. and Mrs. Willis Jackson WILLIS JACKSON is one of those prosperous and contented men who live on some of the fine farms of Henry County. The years have brought him a wealth of experience and of those comforts and material things that give a retrospect of years a pleasing aspect to a man now past the prime of life. This branch of the Jackson family is of Scotch-Irish stock and originated in Ireland. Members of it emigrated to the United States and settled in Pennsylvania before the Revolutionary war. The first generation of the family lived and died, in Eastern Pennsylvania. Mr. Jackson's grandfather, Joseph Jackson, was born in Pennsylvania about 1794. He grew up there and married a Miss Watson. Later he removed to Eastern Ohio and still later brought his family to Seneca County, Ohio, and settled in the woods near Green Springs. He was a pioneer in that district, and got his land direct from the Government. Though quite well along in years at the time he proceeded vigorously with the clearing and development and in time had a substantial farm. In the next generation is Noah Jackson, father of Willis Jackson. Noah was born in Pennsylvania in 1820 and grew up on the old farm in Seneca County. He was married there to Miss Mary Shively. About 1848 Noah Jackson came into what was then a perfect wilderness in Harrison Township of Henry County, and secured a tract of wild land in section thirty-six. There was not a single provement worthy of mention, and the first home of the Jacksons was a typical log cabin bare of comforts and conveniences, and life such conditions were reduced to the bare an primitive necessities. Noah Jackson was man of thrift and industry and in time clear up and improved a fine farm and erected substantial nine-room house which took t place of the primitive log cabin. Some yea HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO - 1415 after he came to Henry County his father also came and lived retired in Napoleon until his death at the age of ninety-seven. Grandfather Jackson after coming to Henry County took up the faith of the Methodist Church though he had formerly been a Presbyterian, and served as a local preacher. The family have given their political allegiance to first the whig and then the republican party. Noah Jackson lived on the old farm until his death in 1896. He was a stanch republican and a man of more than ordinary influence in his community. His wife, who was born in 1822, died in 1900. The only one now living of six children, Willis Jackson, was born on his father's homestead in Henry County September 15, 1856. Early in life he became acquainted with toil. and industry has been the keynote to his success. He now has a fine farm of 200 acres in Harrison Township and has given it many of the substantial improvements that may now be seen there. One improvement is a substantial barn 40 by 70 feet. While most of his land is under cultivation, he has a wood lot of four acres of native timber. This is land formerly contained in what was known as the black swamp, and only by the exertions of several successive generations has it been redeemed, tiled, drained and made fit for regular cultivation. The land owned by Mr. Willis Jackson is now as fertile as any soil found in Henry County, and will produce every kind of crop, though corn is the most profitable product. In his home township and county Mr. Jackson married Miss Jennie Hoppes. She was born in Seneca County, Ohio, April 29, 1858, and when nine years of age came to Henry County with her parents, August and Lydia (Gooding) Hoppes, who settled in Damascus Township. Her parents were born and married in Pennsylvania, and from that state settled in Seneca County, Ohio. In 1867 the Hoppes family settled in Damascus Township of Henry County, and Mrs. Jackson's father cleared and improved a farm there. He later retired to Liberty Center, and he and his wife are still living there at the respective ages of eighty-six and seventy-nine. The Hoppes family have always been Lutherans in religious belief, and Mr. Hoppes is of German stock, while his wife is of English lineage. Mr. and Mrs. Jackson are active members of the Methodist Church. He is a republican and is affiliated with Lodge No. 239 of the Knights of Pythias. He and his wife have some very capable children. Wiley M., the oldest, is now manager of the elevator at Holgate ; he married Virginia Underwood and has a son Willis E. Dick is still at home, unmarried, and assists his father in the management of the farm. Bessie died when nine years of age. Della became the wife of Walter Warner, and the mother of two children, Leota and Paul ; her son Paul was drowned, and it was the shock of his death that killed Mrs. Della Warner. Mary is the wife of Burk Richards, a farmer in Damascus Township, and they have two children. Atlee is a graduate of the school of electrical engineering at Washington and is now following his profession in Chicago; he married Margaret Smith. The beautiful estate of Mr. and Mrs. Jackson is known as "Maple Lodge." IRA A. RICHARDSON. Not only in business affairs but in the performance of the duties of good citizenship Ira A. Richardson has been one of the honored men of Toledo for the past half century. He represents some of the old pioneer stock in Northern Ohio, and is himself the product of a period when life in the Middle West was reduced to its simplest terms, and when young men faced the world seldom with anything better than an education acquired in the fundamentals and in the primitve old time schools. The greater part of Mr. Richardson 's active career was spent in the real estate and insurance business, and there is probably no man in Lucas County who has greater information as to the many changes in value effected by the passing of fifty years. One of Mr. Richardson's sons is now serving as county recorder of Lucas County. His birthplace, where he first saw the light of day, February 14, 1837, was a log house on a farm at Northfield, Summit County, Ohio. He still recalls some of the features of that old house and also of conditions then familiar and accepted by all residents in this part of the Middle West. The only means of artificial lighting were tallow candles and the light that came from the big fireplace which was found in every cabin and mansion of that day. One of the typical country schools that existed in Summit County during the decade of the '40s supplied his early training, and he also attended what were known as select schools and still later the high school at Cuyahoga Falls in Summit County. 1416 - HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO He comes of some of the oldest New England stock. There were two Richardson brothers who emigrated from Sweden in 1622 and founded homes around Massachusetts Bay in the vicinity of Boston. One of these was the direct ancestor of Ira A. Richardson of Toledo. Mr. Richardson's father, grandfather and great-grandfather all bore the name Amos. Grandfather Amos Richardson emigrated from Boston in 1816, soon after the close of the War of 1812 and founded a home in the wilderness of the old Ohio Western Reserve at Northfield, in the same locality where Ira A. was born. Grandfather Richardson was a man of much enterprise, and at one time he took the contract for constructing an entire section of the old Ohio and Erie Canal, but was stricken down with a fatal illness and died before finishing the contract. Amos Richardson, father of the Toledo business man, was born at Rowe, Massachusetts, December 14, 1810, and was brought to Ohio in 1817 at the age of seven. He spent all his active career as a farmer in the vicinity of Northfield in Summit County. He married Phoebe Wood, whose father, Henry Wood, served as an offlcer in the War of 1812, and in 1813 removed from Schenectady, New York, and located in Northfield, Ohio, about sixteen miles out of Cleveland, and in that community Phoebe was born. During the latter part of his early manhood, while still attending school during fall terms, Ira A. Richardson began teaching, and altogether taught fourteen terms of district school and for three terms was a teacher in the graded school at Peninsula, Summit County. In the meantime he had attained the years of majority, and in 1861 he was at Ashland, Wisconsin, when the Civil war broke out. He at once went down to Madison and volunteered in Colonel Daniel's First Wisconsin Cavalry and went into camp with the recruits. When the surgeon examined him it was found that an injury to his left knee, sustained when he was seventeen years of age, had caused a stiffness in the joint which disqualified him for military service. He then returned to Ohio, and in 1862 again volunteered to enter the army at Cleveland, but the same reason was assigned for his not being accepted in the service. However, during that critical period in the nation 's affairs he managed to give some service to the Federal Government. At Madison, Wisconsin, in 1861 and again in 1863 his services were accepted by the Government as bookkeeper in the tele graph department and he was assigned to a post at Nashville, Tennessee. While there in 1864 he was stricken with typhoid fever, and after recovering sufficiently to travel returned home to Ohio and resigned his position. Mr. Richardson first went into the life and fire insurance business in 1864 at Hudson, Ohio. In 1866, having moved to Toledo, he bought from John Lokey the agency of the Aetna Life Insurance Company covering several counties in Northwestern Ohio. He conducted the business actively until 1871 and then expanded by adding real estate as another branch of his activities. Ever since he cast his vote for the election of Abraham Lincoln in 1860 Mr. Richardson has been a sturdy and loyal republican. His only important office came when he was elected by the members of the board secretary of the Board of Elections of Toledo under the new law. He served a year and a half, and then the law was changed and the secretary of the board instead of being elected by the board of elections as formerly was appointed by the governor of the state. The board members at once volunteered to recommend Mr. Richardson to the governor for appointment, but as his business took up so much of his time that he could hardly afford to sacrifice it for the honors of office, he declined gratefully this mark of regard shown by the members of the board. Mr. Richardson is an active Mason, being affiliated with Toledo Lodge No. 144, Free and Accepted Masons ; Fort Meigs Chapter No. 29, Royal Arch Masons ; and Toledo Council No. 33, Royal and Select Masters, all at Toledo. He was a member of the Baptist Church. Mr. Richardson was married twice during war times and has one son living, Judd Richardson, now in the real estate, loan and insurance business, having succeeded his father as active manager of the interests in April, 1910. Judd Richardson married Mary L. Rood of Toledo. Burge Richardson, the younger son, was for nearly twenty-five years travel. ing representative for The R. H. Lane Company of Toledo, a wholesale boot and shoe concern, but in the spring of 1915 was elected county recorder of Lucas County for the term of two years. He served in that position, for which he was exceptionally well qualified, until his death, which occurred August 12, 1916. Burge Richardson married Bertha L. Gunn of Toledo, who, with a daughter, Marcella, and a son, Ralph, survive him. HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO - 1417 WASHINGTON C. THORP. By his work as a farmer and gardener Washington C. Thorp is contributing something of value to the world and the people that live therein. He has a fine place on the Monroe Street road in Sylvania Township and in the course of thirty years has managed to accumulate not only a satisfying competence but also the regard and esteem of his community. He is now serving as township trustee. His birth occurred near Norwalk in Huron County, Ohio, April 30, 1858. His parents, Jeremiah and Rebecca (Brown) Thorp, were early settlers of Huron County. In 1864 the family moved to Fulton County, and Washington C. Thorp grew up in that locality and acquired his early education. In 1884 he moved to East Toledo, where he remained two years, then located on a farm in Washington Township for seven years, and in 1893 came to the place in Sylvania where he still lives. In 1884 in Fulton County Mr. Thorp married Mary Ann Knepper, a daughter of John and Rebecca Knepper, who were from Pennsylvania. Mr. and Mrs. Thorp have two children : Pearl May, a teacher who lives at home ; Orlo Rhodes, who is a farmer near his father in Sylvania Township and by his marriage to Isabelle Robinson has a son named Herbert. Since starting out in life on his own account Mr. Thorp has put to vigorous use his own abilities and such opportunities as came in his way, and has well deserved all his success. For some six or seven years he seryed as a member of the school board, and was its president for a considerable part of that time. It was in 1915 that he was elected township trustee. He is a democrat, an active member or Sylvania Lodge No. 289, Ancient Free and. Accepted Masons, also a member of Sylvania Chapter of the Eastern Star, and belongs to the Grotto, a social organization of Blue Lodge Masons. He is also a member of the Protected Home Circle. CHARLES R. CLAPP. A member of the Toledo bar for twenty years, Charles R. Clapp contributed high personal character and ability to the local bar for a number of years, but is now best known as secretary and treasurer of The National Supply Company, manufacturers of and dealers in oil and gas well supplies, probably the largest corporation of its kind in the country. He is the only member of his family who came West. He bears a name which has been distinguished since the early colonial period in New England, and the Clapp homestead at Ballston Spa in Saratoga County, New York, is one of those old estates which have passed regularly from one generation to another for more than a century. Charles R. Clapp was born at this home in Saratoga County, New York, March 5, 1867, was educated in the public schools and graduated from Colgate University in New York in 1891. In the town where he was born he took up the study of law and was admitted to the New York State bar in 1893 and to the Ohio bar in March, 1896. Mr. Clapp came to Toledo in January, 1896, having previously for three years, from 1893, practiced in his old home town, Ballston Spa, with Judge L 'Amoraux, ex-county judge in Saratoga County. On moving to Toledo Mr. Clapp established law offices in the National Bank of Commerce Building, practiced alone for a time, and then joined U. G. Denman under the firm name of Clapp & Denman with offices at Mr. Clapp 's former location. They were associated until 1898, and in 1900 Mr. Clapp formed a partnership with Ira C. Taber, Mr. Denman having gone into the city solicitor's office as assistant city solicitor. The firm of Taber & Clapp held a foremost position in the Toledo bar until 1908, when Mr. Clapp practically gave up general practice to accept election as secretary and treasurer of The National Supply Company of Toledo, his present place. He now gives all his attention to the affairs of this corporation whose relations are more than nation wide. Mr. Clapp is also a director of the Guardian Trust & Savings Bank of Toledo, is a member of the Toledo Club, the Toledo Com merce Club, Toledo Yacht Club, Inverness Club, Country 'Club, Toledo Automobile Club, the Toledo Lodge of Masons, and belongs to the Ashland Avenue Baptist Church of Toledo. His chief recreations are golf and automobiling. While in college he was a member of the Delta Kappa Epsilon and was also a Phi Beta Kappa, the scholarship fraternity. He won many of the honors during his course in college. On October 23, 1901, Mr. Clapp married Miss Gertrude M. Hardee, daughter of William and Adelaide C. (Nessle) Hardee of Toledo. Mrs. Clapp was a graduate of Wells College. After a happy marriage of less than six years she died at Toledo September 5, 1907. While Mr. Charles R. Clapp is the only member of his immediate family to be identi- 1418 - HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO fled with Toledo and Northwest Ohio, something should be said concerning the members of the prominent family to which he belongs. His parents were Russell Palmer and Madelia (Hale) Clapp, both now deceased. His father was for years secretary of the People's Line Steamers running between New York City and Albany, and prior to that had been with the Citizens' Line running from Troy, New York. He was identified with these two steamship lines up the Hudson for more than forty years. Russell P. Clapp was born in Ballston Spa, Saratoga County, New York, July 31, 1820, and died in New York City in 1888. The old homestead where he and his son Charles R. mere both born has been owned by the family more than a century and it is now owned by Charles R. Clapp of Toledo. The ancestral record of the Clapps goes back to Roger Clapp, who was born in Salcombe Regis, Devonshire, England, April 6, 1609. On March 20, 1630, a little before his twenty-first birthday, he sailed from Plymouth for New England, and arrived at Nantasket on May 30, 1630. He came on the ship Mary and John, which was the second in a fleet of sixteen vessels which left England with passengers in 1630 under the patronage of the Massachusetts Bay Company. The passengers on the Mary and John were the first to settle at Dorchester, Massachusetts, where they arrived about June 17, 1630. Concerning Roger Clapp 's father nothing definite is known beyond a few brief papers in Roger's "Memoirs," where he is referred to as "a man fearing God" and "whose outward estate was not great." Roger Clapp was married November 6, 1633, to Johanna, a daughter of Thomas Ford of Dorchester, England, both of whom were passengers on the same vessel with Captain Roger. She was born June 8, 1617, and was sixteen years five months old when she was married. She survived her husband some four or five years, and died in Boston June 29, 1695, aged seventy-eight, being buried near her husband. Captain Clapp 's life was a busy and eventful one. He was noted for his works of benevolence, his ability and energy of character, and a far reaching influence and leadership in the colony and town. In 1637, at the age of twenty-eight, he was chosen selectman, and fourteen times afterwards was elected to the same position. In 1665 he took command of the Castle. In 1664 he was one of the committee of five to fix the rate of assessment for building a new meeting house. Several times he was chosen deputy from Dorchester to the general court. In 1673, on being again chosen deputy, the following record by Blake is found : "Afterwards, in this year, ye court sent an order to choose another deputy in ye room of Captain Clapp, his presence being necessary at ye Castle, because ye times were troublesome." To most of the petitions and documents emanating from and relating to Dorchester his name was signed and carried with it a weight and influence probably greater than that of any other local citizen. He was one of the commissioners appointed to marry persons, an office of especial dignity and honor at that time. It is recorded that he had a horror of idleness and was himself remarkably industrious, being continuously engaged in some useful employment and his good judgment and business ability called him frequently as overseer of wills and in other important business transactions. He was described as "of the very quiet and peaceable spirit, not apt to resent injury, but when he thought the honor of God was concerned or just and lawful authority opposed, he was forward enough to exert himself." At the first regular organization of the military of the colony in 1644 he was lieutenant of the Dorchester Company. At that time the military were obliged to parade eight days each year, and the penalty of five shillings was exacted for non-appearance and none were exempt except "timorous persons," of which there were exceedingly few in those days. He afterwards became captain of Dorchester Company, and on August 10, 1665, the general court appointed him captain of the Castle, which is now Fort Independence in Boston Harbor, to succeed Captain Richard Davenport, who had been killed in that place by lightning. He remained a captain of the Castle for twenty. one years, until he was seventy-seven years of age and resigned in 1682 chiefly on account of political troubles which were coming to a climax under the administration of the unpopular Sir Edmund Andros. After he gave up the command of the Castle Captain Clapp lived in Boston until his death on February 2, 1691 He was one of the founders of the church in Dorchester, and a. member thereof for sixty years. His prominence in the community is indicated by the fact that during a severe illness in 1672 the people of Dorchester held a fast "to beg his life of God," and on his recovery they held a special thanksgiving service. At his funeral his remains were followed by the governor and the general court, and HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO - 1419 a salute was fired at the Castle. He was a member for many years of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company of Boston. Beginning with this Captain Roger Clapp, the heads of the successive generation in direct line to Charles R. Clapp of Toledo, Ohio, are as follows: Captain Roger ; Preserved ; Roger; Charles; Israel ; Chester ; Russell P.; and Charles R. Thus Charles R. Clapp is in the eighth generation from the vigorous and eminent ancestor just mentioned. Of the origin of the Clapp family the following account is supplied by a Massachusetts genealogist: "This surname had its origin in the proper or personal name of Osgod Clapa, a Danish noble in the court of King Canute (1017-36). The site of this country place was known afterward as Clapham, county Surrey. The spelling in the early records varies from Clapa to the present form, Clapp. The ancient seat of the family in England is at Salcombe, Devonshire, where important estates were held for centuries by this family. Their coat-of-arms : First and fourth three battle-axes, second sable a griffin passant argent ; third sable an eagle with two heafs displayed with a border engrailed argent. A common coat-of-arms in general use by the family in America as well as England : charged with the sun or, Crest : a pike naiant proper. Motto: `Fais ce que Dois advienne que pourra.' The American branches of this family are descended from six immigrants, brothers and cousins, who settled in Dorchester, Massachusetts, whence they and their descendants have scattered to all parts of the country." The mother of Charles R. Clapp died at Ballston Spa, New York, in 1904. She was of English ancestry. Mr. Clapp's parents never came to Ohio. They were very religious people and Russell P. Clapp was especially so, Church In their family were eight children, and long active as a member of the Baptist six sons and two daughters, four of whom reached maturity. William, the oldest, died at the age of fifteen. Grandfather Chester Clapp lived to be ninety-seven years of age. Charles R Clapp has one brother still living, George F., who lives on the old homestead at Ballston Spa in New York, and is connected with the People's Line Steamers of which his father was secretary for so many years. PETER WATSON GRAY is now serving his second term as sheriff of Henry County, and is one of the most popular and esteemed citizens of this section of Northwest Ohio. He was first elected sheriff in 1912, and for 8 ½ years has been town marshal of the City of Deshler in the same county. He has lived in Henry County for the past thirty years, but was born in Wood County, Ohio, in December, 1868. He attended the public schools and completed his education at Deshler, and has been a self reliant and vigorous type of citizen in that county for many years. Altogether he has served the public in some capacity for more than a dozen years. His parents, William and Susanna (Philo) Gray, were Pennsylvania people, his mother of Scranton. They were married at Perrysburg in Wood County, Ohio, December 25, 1864, lived on a farm in Webster Township of that county until early in 1868, when as a family they moved to Deshler in Henry County. At Deshler William Gray engaged in the mercantile business for about eighteen years, and then lived retired until his death on August 16, 1905. His widow passed away in September, 1909. In politics he was a democrat and they were members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Of their children Peter W. was the oldest. William Gray, Jr., is in business at Deshler operating a delivery system and also has a contract for sprinkling the streets; he has four daughters, Naomi, Frances, Grace and Nellie. The daughter Anna is the wife of Charles Post, a machinist and tool maker, and their two children are named Parrell and Lucile. Peter W. Gray at the early age of fourteen began learning the baker's trade and followed that line until elected to the office of city marshal. He was married in Paulding County, Ohio, November 26, 1889, to Miss Nellie J. Straley. She was born in Belmore, Putnam County, .Ohio, January 4, 1872, was reared and educated at Belmore, and is a daughter of Jerome T. and Agnes (Kushmaul) Straley, who were natives of Pennsylvania, were married in Ohio, and died in Putnam County, her father at the age of fifty-nine and her mother at fifty-two. They were members of the Presbyterian Church, and her father was a republican. Mr. and Mrs. Gray have one child only by adoption, Harriet McNalley, a niece of Mrs. Gray. She was born May 4, 1907. Mr. and Mrs. Gray attend the Evangelical Church. TOLEDO LODGE No. 53, BENEVOLENT AND PROTECTIVE ORDER OF ELKS. Alembership in the Elks Club of Toledo has long been considered an honor and the hundreds of promi- 1420 - HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO nent business men and citizens who during the past thirty years have been connected with that organization have in turn reflected the highest credit upon the lodge. In order that some of the chief points in the history of the organization may be set down in permanent form the following sketch has been prepared. A select number of Toledo citizens gathered together on Sunday afternoon, October 24, 1886, in a small room, and under the guiding hand of Grand Exalted Ruler Daniel Kelley, the Toledo Lodge of Elks was brought into existence. Some of those who attended that meeting declare that it was held on one of the most beautiful Indian summer days and that the inspiration of nature gave spirit to the thovement for organization. The lodge was instituted in what was then known as Grand Army Hall, with Daniel A. Kelley in charge of the ceremonies as grand exalted ruler. He was assisted by District Deputy Andrew Gilligan and Brothers Harry E. Block and R. Strauss of Cincinnati Lodge No. 5 ; Charles A. Chase of Detroit Lodge ; Randolph Landman of Saginaw, Michigan, Lodge ; E. Anglin, P. F. Plummer, M. M. McFarland, M. Knapp and E. S. Beach of Adrian, Michigan, Lodge. The charter members of Toledo Lodge were : Henry J. Richmond, G. Herbert Cole, Frank E. Wright, Frank Lamkin, Louis G. Richardson, Frank E. Cole, Harry S. Dowling, David H. Commager, Charles A. Garwood, Andrew Farquharson, Charles A. Chase, E. S. Reeves, P. P. Murray, Frederick C. Hitchcock, John P. Bronson, Fred J. Blakely and Andrew Claypool. Of these seventeen charter members only a few still remain. After the installation of the lodge it organized by the election of the following offlcers : Exalted ruler, James M. Hueston ; .esteemed leading knight, Frank E. Wright ; esteemed loyal knight, C. H. Garwood ; esteemed lecturing knight, J. K. Ohl ; secretary, G. Herbert Cole ; treasurer, Andrew Claypool ; tyler, Louis G. Richardson ; trustees, H. A. Chase, Frank Lamkin and E. S. Reeves. After the installation of officers Exalted Ruler Hueston made appointments as follows : Esquire, Harry S. Dowling ; chaplain, Andrew Farquharson ; inner guard, W. J. Ellis ; organist, Frederick C. Hitchcock. A committee on constitution was appointed consisting of Brothers Frank E. Cole, Andrew Claypool and E. S. Reeves. The trustees were ordered to select a meeting place and a night for meeting, and the lodge then closed and, although there is no record of the same in the minutes, it is recalled that the business session was followed by an impromptu social session which accorded with the best standards and traditions of Elkdom. October 29, 1886, a special meeting was held for the purpose of adopting the constitution and by-laws of Cleveland Lodge, pending the report of the committee on constitutions. The following evening was held the regular communication of the lodge on Saturday night, the date temporarily fixed for the lodge session. The Grand Army Hall had been secured, and at the regular meeting it was decided to apply to the Grand Lodge for a charter. The next regular meeting, Saturday, November 6th, was adjourned by unanimous consent to the following day, Sunday. On that day the report of the committee on constitution was adopted. Under the constitution the date of election of officers was fixed and under a suspension of rules the following officers were elected for the first year : Exalted ruler, David H. Commager ;,esteemed leading knight, Frank E. Wright ; esteemed loyal knight, C. H. Garwood ; esteemed lecturing knight, C. H. Cole ; secretary, Andrew Farquharson ; treasurer, John P. Bronson ; tyler, A. B. Brownlee ; trustees, H. A. Chase, Frank Lamkin and E. S. Reeves. These officers were installed on the meeting of November 13th, and the following appointments were made : Esquire, Harry S. Dowling ; inner guard, W. J. Ellis ; chaplain, Louis G. Richardson ; organist, Frederick C. Hitchcock. With these officers Toledo Lodge No. 53 started on its first year. That was a year of mingled success and adversity. There was constant anxiety as to the financial condition of the treasury, but through a constant willingness of the members to make any reasonable sacrifice the lodge continued to live and the membership grew, though slowly at first. Later members came in more numerously, but throughout the personnel of membership remained on the high plane with which the lodge was inaugurated. During the first year the meeting night was definitely fixed on Sunday. Before the first year was ended the trustees were instructed to secure a new location, and in 1887 quarters were furnished on Superior Street over what was then known as the Natural Gas Office. Here the lodge entered a new home, and that turned out to be an excellent move on the part of the trustees. A distinct HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO - 1421 impetus was given to the membership and the interest in the work. At the meeting held Sunday, December 26, 1886, the by-laws were amended to make the meeting night Thursday, and such it has remained since. Thursday, December 29, 1887, the nucleus of Findlay Lodge was formed for the admission to membership in Toledo Lodge of ten citizens of Findlay. They were active later in forming Findlay Lodge. Toledo is thus the alma mater of Findlay Lodge. January 12, 1888, these members were initiated under a special dispensation granted for that purpose, and on March 15th the Findlay Lodge was instituted by Toledo Lodge. In November, 1888, the lodge received its first visitation of the grand officer, Grand Exalted Ruler Leach having made it a point to be present. He was received in proper form and was entertained by a grand social session after the closing of the lodge. Death at this time entered the lodge, laying its hands on Past Exalted Ruler James M. Houston, the first exalted ruler and the first to be called to the Grand Lodge above. With varying fortunes Toledo Lodge passed its successive years with all the vicissitudes of Elkdom, making a brave struggle for existence and at the same time steadily growing. During the trouble that threatened the grand organization, Toledo Lodge remained loyal to the faction that was eventually declared to be the Grand Lodge de facto. After the Detroit reunion and Grand Lodge meeting, when troublous times appeared for Elkdom, Toledo Lodge was loyal and refused to be drawn into the contention in any way, recognizing the grand officers that were elected in the regular manner and refusing to attend the peace conference called for Buffalo. The representatives of the Grand Lodge that year attended the meeting called at Atlantic City and witnessed the surrender of the recalcitrant faction It was along about time that Toledo lodge began its agitation for a new building. he building committee was appointed with instruction to prepare plans for a building and incidentally suggest a plan for financing. it. committee was composed of Bros. C. F. Wall, J. J. Stone, Charles Stager, L. G. Richardson, and Violet J. Emmick. After the first report the committee was discharged and discusson then turned to the securing of new quarters. As a result a floor was secured in the Gates Building and fitted up for lodge rooms, and that was the home of the Toledo Elks until they moved into the Valentine Building. A short time before the session of the Grand Lodge at Cincinnati in 1896 some of the Toledo Elks advocated entering the competition for the street parade prize. A squad was hastily thrown together, and with cheap uniform they went into the parade and carried off the prize. Thus was the birth of the famous "Cherry Pickers," the drill squad which afterwards became known from ocean to ocean. The Cherry Pickers were named by John S. White, on account of the color of their uniforms. The color of the uniform worn by the Cherry Pickers was also selected by John S. White, one of the local tailors. A peculiar shade of red was used, the identical color of uniforms worn by the First Regiment of Lancers in the British army, known as the Cherry Pickers Regiment. The Toledo Cherry Pickers in their new uniforms made their first appearance at Minneapolis, Minnesota, where after an exciting contest they were awarded the first prize, a handsome silk banner. The first captain of the Cherry Pickers was Gen W. V. McMaken, succeeded by W. H. Cook Louisville Lodge was the only competitor of the Toledo squad in that event. Following that at St. Louis the Cherry Pickers and the Louisville squad had a downright contest, both drill teams being trained to the minute. Capt William H. Cook was in command of the Toledo company with J. Harvey Wylie as first lieutenant and William H. Atwell as second lieutenant. The Louisville squad was under command of Major Leathers, one of the finest drill masters the South ever produced. Before the contest he announced in event of hi defeat it would be his last appearance on the drill grounds. The teams drilled in the Coliseum on a tanbark floor and in a stifling dust and the Cherry Pickers won by two points On the return of the Cherry Pickers a recep. tion was given them and the streets were thronged with a shouting and cheering humanity. At Milwaukee the Cherry Pickers were defeated by Chicago by a margin of seven-eighths of one point. The Chicago squad was known a: the Purple Guard, but was in reality the crack drill team of the Knights Templar, which had been initiated in a body two weeks prior to the Grand Lodge meeting. Toledo took second in street parade and second in drill at Milwaukee, took first in drill and second in street parade at St. Louis, first in drill at Minneapolis and first in street parade at Cincin- 1422 - HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO nati. First in competitive drill squad in Buffalo and first in drill squad in Philadelphia. All the money won in these I contests was turned into the treasury of the lodge, and became the foundation of the building fund. To this money was added some $14,000 derived from two carnivals. With this fund the building committee bought a piece of property on Michigan Street opposite the Lucas County Courthouse for $13,000. That is the site of their handsome home which was erected in 1905 and dedicated June 15, 1905. Since the lodge entered its new quarters its membership has steadily grown until it now embraces 1,000 Elks. It was estimated that fully 10,000 people accepted the invitations and formed the bulk of the great crowd participating in the dedication of the Elks Building on June 15, 1905. From morning until midnight this throng passed through the spacious structure. The dedication service itself was a simple ceremony, merely the turning over of the building to the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks for its use and purposes. This was accomplished in a Grand Lodge session on Thursday night, June 15th. About 450 Elks participated. Charles Marshall, district deputy of Sidney, Ohio, conducted the Grand Lodge session. The following staff assisted him : Grand esteemed leading knight, C. J. Nolan ; grand esteemed loyal knight, M. B. Daly ; grand esteemed lecturing knight, N. D. Cochran ; grand esquire, William M. Bellman ; grand chaplain, John Leppelman ; inner guard, William Bartley ; chairman building committee, P. M. Jacoby. Mr. Marshall's address was brief, consisting of a few well chosen words congratulating the Elks on their enterprise in building the magnificent home. Prior to the session the Elks formed a procession which marched to the lodge room where the services were conducted. All the furnishings and tapestries were in place when the building was turned over to the guests, and nothing was left undone to make the event memorable. Though it was strictly a home gathering, Elks were present from many states in the Union. On this happy occasion which meant so much to the Toledo Lodge there should be given a record of the membership of the reception committee. They were : F. W. Ayling, J. W. Popp, A. H. Hessen, W. R. Davis, Joseph Galloway, S. M. Lavin, Frank Mohr, J. R. Greene, George E. Ryan, J. V. Newton, Jacob Weier, Holland C. Webster, A. J. Barsch, G. W. Dawley, Guy Cottington, A. L. Hofman, J. C. Huber, J. C. Newton, W. F. Donovan, W. P. Kohler, Lawrence Love, Dale Wilson, L. E. Flory, W. H. Bork, J. D. Nolan, W. H. Atwill, Rollo St. John, John Solon, W. A. Kelley, R. J. West, J. W. Beck, W. E, Savage, J. P. Degnan and H. W. Leibius. The Cherry Pickers organization which in 1898 gave the building its start by winning several big money prizes, claims credit for the final completion of the splendid home. From their efforts were formed the arch which eventually sustained the building. The exalted ruler of the lodge at the time of dedication was William J. Albrecht. The building committee consisted of the well known Toledo men named as follows: James H. Pheatt, P. H. Garrigan, F. H. Broer, P. M. Jacoby, William McFarland, W. H. Haskell, Can D., Donovan, W. M. Bellman, L. E. Flory. The present secretary of the Elks Club is J. J. Crowe, who was elected and has served as secretary of the lodge since October, 1905. The other official members at this time are; Exalted ruler, Walter Rosengarden; esteemed leading knight, Lewis E. Mallow; esteemed loyal knight, David Swinton; esteemed lecturing knight, George P. Hahn; secretary, J. J. Crowe ; treasurer, L. E. Flory; tyler, Charles Seymour (he has served as tyler since the organization of the lodge) ; esquire, C. R. Rex ; inner guard, Dr. B. E. Leatherman ; organist, P. T. Germain ; trustees, S. J. Pickett, Richard Kmid, J. C. A. Leppelman and E. E. Parks; chaplain, Louis Volk. JOHN VAN HORN HARTMAN, M. D. Few men in the medical profession in Northwest Ohio have been more eager to attain all the advantages of study and observation in the great medical centers of the world than Dr. John Van Horn Hartman of Findlay. Doctor Hartman is still a young man, not forty, and yet is recognized in his home city and over Northwest Ohio as one of the leading surgical specialists. His special field of work is in gynecology, obstetrics and general surgery. He was born March 10, 1877, in Allen Township of Hancock County, a son of Jasper Newton and Mary Ellen (Skinner) Hartman. He is of Pennsylvania German stock. Reared on a farm, he attended the Findlay public schools and spent two years in Findlay College. During his early life he was a teacher in district schools in Hancock County for about six years, and it was his savings from HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO - 1423 teaching that enabled him to complete his first course in medicine. In 1900 he entered the Homeopathic Medical College of Cleveland, where he graduated M. D. in 1904. While an undergraduate he served as an interne for one year in the Cleveland Maternity Hospital, and after graduating spent six months in the Cleveland City Maternity Hospital. Even at the time he began practice in Findlay in 1904 he was unusually well equipped by training and by natural talents for successful work. Above all he is progressive, and is constantly accepting of every opportunity to improve his technique and gain wider experience by association with the great surgeons of this country and abroad. In 1907 he attended the New York Post-Graduate School, in 1910 was in the Harvard Medical College, and in 1914 went abroad and studied under the eminent Doctor Wertheim and other specialists at Vienna, Austria. He has also attended the Policlinic at Chicago and for the past ten years has made annual visits to the famous Mayo brothers' clinics in Rochester, Minnesota. For two terms Doctor Hartman served on the Findlay Board of Health, and is an active member of all the medical societies and associations. Politically he is independent. In 1906 he married Miss Zoe Codding, a daughter of John Quincy Codding of Findlay. They became the parents of two children, Mary Ellen, deceased, and Sarah Roe. Doctor Hartman is a member of the Findlay Country Club, the Court Club and is a member of the Masonic Order, including the Scottish Rite. GEORGE E. CRABB is proprietor of one of best farm homesteads west of Toledo in Washington Township. His farm is situated miles north of West Toledo, and he has a great deal of enterprise in its manage-and in regulating its productiveness. Mr. Crabb is now serving as town clerk of Washington Township. He is a son of Gershom and Sarah A. (Stevens) Crabb. His father died in 1898 and his mother in 1912. Their children were : Eliza Ann, widow of William Jackman of Toledo; Mary J., deceased; Ada M., deceased wife of John Baldwin of Toledo; Alice, wife of Abraham Keagle ; Susan Hannah, wife of Edrue Park of Coldwater, Michigan ; and Laura L., wife of Arthur Ruple of Coldwater, Michigan. The youngest of the family, George E. Crabb, married Winifred Wendel, daughter of Francis Wendel of Monroe County, Michigan. Mr. and Mrs. Crabb have a fine family of children named Helen, Gershom, Charlotte, Lois, Frances E., Myron J., Walter, Olive, Ada and George, Jr. Politically Mr. Crabb is a republican. For some twelve or fourteen years he served as a member of the school board, and is now town clerk. Fraternally he is affiliated with the Lodge and Royal Arch Chapter of the Masons. He and his family attend the Congregational Church. JOHN A. MEHRING. From a small inception Mr. Mehring has developed one of the important industrial and commercial enterprises centered at Napoleon, judicial seat of Henry County, and he may now consistently be said to be one of the oldest business men of this thriving little city, as he has here been identified with the manufacturing of brick and tile for more than thirty years. The large and prosperous business of which he is now the head had its initiation in 1884, when modest operations were instituted under the firm name of C. E. Mehring & Company, and with his brother, Charles E., as a member of the firm. The enterprise was represented solely in the manufacturing of brick during the first two years, and later the original firm was dissolved, John A. Mehring, of this review, then assuming control of the plant and business, which under his careful, straightforward and progressive administration have been developed to the present large proportions. He admitted his only son to partnership and since that time the enterprise has been conducted under the title of Mehring & Son. The firm has recently given a virtually entire new equipment to its plant, including the installation of the Brewer tile machinery and the Marin brick machinery, so that the facilities in both departments are of the best modern type and make possible the production of brick and tile of the highest grade. This important manufacturing plant now has a capacity for the output of 19,000 4-inch tiles per annum, the while the facilities provide for the manufacturing of tile from 3 to 18 inches in diameter. The capacity of the brick plant is for the manufacturing of from 25,000 to 35,000 a day, and the product is authoritatively pronounced to be of the very best style and quality, including tapestry brick in various shades. A large part of the output of this admirable establishment is used in this immediate section of 1424 - HISTORY OF NORTHWEST OHIO the state, and it is worthy of note that from the Mehring plant was supplied the brick for the erection of the public library and armory buildings of Napoleon, two of the most modern and attractive structures in Henry County, while similar service has been given in connection with the construction of other public buildings and many of the higher grade of residences in this section of Ohio. The beautiful home of Mr. Mehring himself, at 925 Woodlawn Avenue, was erected in 1914 and is a most effective exposition of the excellent quality and design of the brick manufactured in his establishment, great care having been taken in the selection of products that would insure most perfect harmony in all parts of the architectural scheme. This fine house, with the most substantial and artistic equipment and appointments throughout, is heated by hot water, is supplemented by a commodious garage of similar architectural order, and constitutes as a whole one of the most attractive residence properties in Northwestern Ohio. John August Mehring was born on a farm in Defiance Township, Defiance County, Ohio, on the 7th of September, 1862, and there he was reared to adult age, in the meanwhile making good use of the advantages afforded him in the public schools and in his youth becoming associated with the contracting and building business, to which he continued to give his attention until he engaged in the manufacturing of brick, as noted in a preceding paragraph of this article. He is a son of Frederick and Dora ( Schockman) Moehring, both natives of Magdeburg, Germany, where the former was born in October, 1822, and the latter in February, 1832. Frederick Moehring immigrated to America within a short time after attaining to his legal majority, and the voyage across the Atlantic was made on one of the old-time sailing vessels. Soon after his arrival in the United States he made his way to Ohio and established his temporary residence at Napoleon, Henry County. He assisted in the construction of the old canal that extended through this place to the Wabash Railroad, and finally he became associated with his brother-in-law, John Reik, in the purchase of 120 acres of land in Defiance County. There they continued to maintain their residence for a number of years, and then they divided the property and each instituted independent farming operations, besides which each of them eventually added materially to the area of his landed estate. The marriage of Mr. Moehring, who retained the original German orthography of the family name, was solemnized in Defiance County, and on their fine old homestead farm he and his wife passed the remainder of their active lives, industrious, upright and substantial citizens who commanded the high regard of all who knew them. Mrs. Moehring died on the old homestead on the 1st of January, 1909, at the age of seventy-three years, nine months and twenty-two days, and her venerable husband passed the gracious evening of his life in the home of his daughter, Mrs. Mary Beneke, of Ridgeville, Henry County, where he died. He was a staunch supporter of the cause of the democratic party and both he and his wife were lifelong and devout members of the Lutheran Church, in which connection it should be noted that they assisted in the organization of the first Lutheran Church in the City of Defiance, besides contributing liberally to the erection of the original and the second church edifices. This sterling pioneer couple became the parents of three sons and two daughters. Besides the subject of this sketch two others of the children are still living, Charles E. and Mary, who is the wife of Theodore Beneke, of Ridgeville, Henry County. The other sister, Annie became the wife of Frederick Beneke, and her death occurred in July, 1913. As a young man John A. Mehring married Miss Minnie Dannerburg, who was born in Defiance County, on the 5th of March, 1867, and who died in April, 1892, at the birth of her only child. She was but twenty-five years of age and her funeral was held on the second anniversary of her marriage. Left with am infant son, Mr. Mehring, in 1893, married Miss Mary Dannerburg, a sister of his first wife. She was born in Defiance County on the 25th of March, 1863, and is a daughter of Frederick and Dorothy (Guhl) Dannerburg, both natives of Germany, the former having been born in Prussia, on the 28th of December. 1832, and the latter having been born in the Kingdom of Hanover, and both having come to America when young. Frederick Dannerburg came to this country in 1849 and his first wife, whose maiden name was Catherine Rodemuth, died when comparatively a young woman, her one surviving child being Frederick, Jr., being still a resident of Defiance County and being the father of one son and one daughter. After the death of his first wife, in Defiance County, Frederick Dannerburg, Sr., wedded Miss Dorothy Guhl, who